Espada thread

Over in the Khamsin thread of the Maserati section there is another person from Iran with a similar story about a Khamsin and some other cars. Apparently they have a "Cars & Coffee" type meeting where they bring some of these out.

 

Hi,

Its called Tehran Cafe Racers and is a sattelite member of Marty Schorr's (Motion Iso Grifo) Sarasota Cafe Racers . There is an ongoing thread in the Middle East Section of Ferrari Chat. The Khamsin was sold off in an auction following the revolution. Its current owner is one of the most fastidious and enthusiastic owners I know and is active in almost all classic car events. The Espada on the other hand has come out of three decades of government storage and is now on display in the museum, thanks in part to the same enthusiasts who have dedicated their own time and resources to preserve these cars.

Regards,

Ramin

 

Great pictures, thanks for sharing! Car looks like in its original livery. This reminds of another Espada that was left under complete dust in a parking in London approx. 15 years ago. I believe owner was from the Middle East.

Can you share the EE plate number with us? Maybe someone can recognize the car based on the numbers.

 

Gassing up the Marzal!
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Factory Press image
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Hi,

The EE Plate is as follows: Top line EE 6
Bottom line: 3143

I was hoping that maybe there was a registry or production list which the history of the car could be traced. Is there any such thing for an ESPADA ? Especially as we have the chassis number.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Here is an interior shot before getting cleaned up. The guys gave it their all and brought the car back to life again.

Regards,

Ramin
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As far as I know there’s no public registry for the Espada. There’s the ilr and lp112 but an extended public registry for the Espada doesn’t exist. In my own registry I’ve after production records for over 500 from the 1225 produced Espada but this one is new in my list.

Exterior color is Luci di Bosco, interior color Verde Chiaro and I’m pretty sure these are still the original colors.

 

That might me a bit too cryptic for him.

International Lamborghini Registry http://www.lamborghiniregistry.com/

You have to pay to look at anything. A few years ago it was open to all and information was generally contributed by all sorts of people. For free. I used to look at the Espada sections a lot and frankly there wasn't much there that would be of help to you at that time. You might get a clue on something though. Updates were erratic unless the car was getting a lot of attention. Maybe it's a lot better now ???

You could also ask around on the Vintage Lamborghini Group VLG over on Yahoo Groups. That and here are probably your best two bets. There are a lot of very qualified eyes that watch the VLG. Somebody my know something.

Good luck.

 

"Maybe it's a lot better now ???"
That would be a no.

...and I can not figure out how to stop the yearly payment automatically charging my card. The membership is 35 bucks, no big deal. BUT here it is $15 and you get much better info. No disrespect to Glenn tho, it's tough.

 

Ohhhhh, look at that Persia.

Bravo Philippe!

 

Avocado green interior and brown metallic exterior? You've got to admit Lamborghini was very bold when it came to the Espada color palette.

 

I've seen it in orange with this green interior as well.

Not my exactly my "kopje thee".

 

Hey Joe, that's a very cool photo. I don't recall ever seeing photos of the Marzal except for publicity type photos. Where does this come from?

 

Dear Phillipe,

Many, many, many thanks. Any bit of information will help us to document these cars before their histories are lost to time.

Just one last question. Is there anyway to see who actually placed the order for the car or at least to see who was the designated recipient ? We know for a fact that the car has a royal pedigree, we are just not sure just how high up.

Warmest Wishes

Ramin

 

I'm just curious what having the "Royal pedigree" means in your country these days.

From our perspective in the USA I would think it to be not so great even if it is interesting.

Are such things now just considered a part of history or are they still potentially politically charged?

 

Dear Staatsof,

To be honest, its been over three decades since the revolution. A number of unique cars were exported to Iran before the revolution. Unfortunately, many of these cars were sold off and now exist outside of Iran where they have been well documented such as the Miura SVJ, Maserati 5000 Gt etc. Today however, a number still exist, whether it be the Mercedes 500 K Autobahn Kourier; Bizzarrini 5300 GT (which a group of enthusiasts lobbied (including myself) to have it taken out of storage and refurbished and put on permanent display in our museum) or the Espada whom we teamed up with the guys from Sonax and is the subject of our discussion.

It is not an issue of being "being great" or a "politically charged" issue. In our eyes, these cars are a part of our history, for good or for bad. We are not politicians, we are car enthusiasts, who are simply trying to preserve and document these cars, have them taken out of storage before the ravages of time catch up with them and document their histories before their histories are lost forever. At the same time, we have a curator at the museum who is sympathetic and does his best with very small resources.

As such, what I mean by "royal pedigree" is the ability to document whom it was owned by and when, so that the next generation will know the history of the car when they see it in our museum. By way of example, we went as far as making contact with Mr. Bizzarrini (by way of a famous international journalist and concours judge) to try to determine the history of the car and drew a blank. When we were refurbishing the car, we discovered a plate in the firewall which was its number in the Royal Garage. It proved for a fact that it was ex-Shah of Iran. Whether thats good or bad is not the case. It means that we and a future geneation of enthusiasts will know how this car ended up in Iran and who owned it, and that its history may set it apart from ofther cars of the same make.

I hoped that I was able to answer your question without putting you to sleep.

Warmest Regards

Ramin

 

Are you sure S.E.A. is in Persia ?

I bet it was the Lambo dealer in Roma... who also sold to Sha of Persia his Miura SV-J...

 

OK, thanks for clarification...

 

Peter, I saw a write-up and photos on her car on-line several days ago. Yes, it was a Xmas present for her and green original color. Is it still for sale?

We visited the Lambo museum near Bologna on August 3. She likes the dark blue Espada the best of all the models there. She told me that we should get one and pink is one of her favor colors for car. Tom

 

hi !
i have some old pics of Espada i've seen in Europe :
blue in Monaco 2001
999BOO silver in Le Touquet 1979
bordeaux in Berlin 1988
white in cannes 1981
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and
red in Le Castellet
green (GB ) cannes 1981
Bordeaux (CH) Monaco 1981
silver Cannes 1981
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My inquiry was sent to her but no response. It is a 20yr old restoration. I would assume it would have some needs. No sure if any major service was done since.
I like the car and would not mind having it but I am tapped out this year.